# Has Mexico ever cooperated with the US on joint military operations overseas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941 "2009-01-19T03:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/1 "2009-01-19T03:51:46Z")
Re operations in strife torn areas like Somalia or Serbia, or in cooperative military exercises like Desert Storm or the Iraq war & Afghanistan , has Mexico ever contributed manpower to these types of exercises and/or operations? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/2 "2009-01-19T08:32:48Z")
According to Wiki: > [@](#): > > The Mexican Army works around three preparedness missions, or plans: > > DN1: Preparation of the military forces to repel external aggressions. No military armed force can leave Mexican territory without a declaration of war, and approval of the Congress. The last time this was invoked was in 1942, to send an expeditionary force to the Philippines, after war was declared against Germany and Japan, following the sinking of two Mexican ships by U-boats. In 1990 President Carlos Salinas de Gortari asked the permission of the Congress to send troops to the Gulf War, but it was refused, since there was no declaration of war against Iraq. So no, the laws of the country prohibit using the military in that way. > **[Mexican Armed Forces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Mexico)** > > The Mexican Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de México) are the military of the United Mexican States. They are composed of two independent branches: the Mexican Army—which includes land forces, the Mexican Air Force, the Special Forces Body, and the National Guard—and the Mexican Navy, which includes naval forces, the Naval Infantry Force (marines), the Naval Aviation, the Maritime Search and Rescue unit (coast guard), and the Marine Special Forces. > The first permanent military force on... ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/3 "2009-01-21T15:16:32Z")
Despite the cite, the Mexican army helped out post-Katrina, and entered our land for humanitarian aid purposes. ---
**Author:** ![spike404](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@spike404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spike404)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/4 "2009-01-21T15:27:51Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Despite the cite, the Mexican army helped out post-Katrina, and entered our land for humanitarian aid purposes. I wonder how many deserted? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/5 "2009-01-21T16:09:04Z")
> [@spike404](#): > > I wonder how many deserted? 😃 Searched various news archives: none, apparently. There was controversy among the Mexican opposition at the time of the mission, but President Fox argued that the restrictions on foreign deployment are for “DN1” missions (combat/security operations), not for “DN3” missions (humanitarian relief), and the specific case was sympathetic enough to make it stick. (So, you see, the debate over Presidential authority to act as CinC w/o going to Congress is not exclusive to us). So I suppose that the standing policy right now is, no to going anywhere to risk getting shot at w/o a formal declaration of war, yes to diaster relief in their backyard. From what I read, it seems the policy has also been cause for debate, in that it keeps Mexico from participating in UN peacekeeping. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/6 "2009-01-21T19:11:31Z")
To answer the question, in World War 2 a Mexican air squadron saw battle in the Philippines. [Wiki link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escuadr%C3%B3n_201#Combat_operations). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mexico-ever-cooperated-with-the-us-on-joint-military-operations-overseas/481941/7 "2009-01-22T05:18:05Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Despite the cite, the Mexican army helped out post-Katrina, and entered our land for humanitarian aid purposes. It wasn’t despite the cite, it was in the cite. It also mentions help in Indonesia during the disaster there.